As there is no longer a legal or government mandated retirement age in this province (unless you are a school bus driver) it has become common practice for people to retire and then get rehired as a casual employee or in a contract position.
Trustee David Perry was quoted as saying “retired administrators shouldn’t do contract work.” So do we think it is wrong for a member of a police force to retire and then to return to work as a casual employee (with a pension), or a firefighter to do the same. How about a health-care worker or a teacher? All of these employers get some form of government funding to pay staff and run their organizations. If we feel that “senior administrators” in the education sector should not double dip, then how about the rest of the government funded or subsidized employers which would also include any elected or appointed public official that receives a pension including those at a municipal, provincial or federal level?
Each organization must remain financially and fiscally responsible and ultimately answer to the public at some point, either through their own organization’s process or in the case of an elected official through the voting public. Returning (or re-hired) employees are rarely an unnecessary addition to the workforce, even if they are a contract employee; they are often doing a job that needs to be done. If the employer or the board of any organization brings someone back, it is often because they are the best person for the job.
So if we don’t want senior officials in the school system to be rehired, then it would only seem fair that those practices become universally applied to all levels of any government funded or sponsored organization. In light of this discussion, I would wonder how many people currently in the board office and School District 67 (as hired, contracted or elected) employees are presently drawing a pension.
Kevin Andrews
Penticton